NBA Legend Jerry West in Favor of Contraction in NBA

Jerry West is talking contraction in the NBA, and some people are buying what he is selling. Jerry West talked about NBA contraction in an interview on Tuesday night, and talked of a time in the past where the NBA was able to put "super teams" on the floor that sometimes seemed to have five all-stars starting for some of them. It's a point that some support, the contraction of the NBA, but it is also something that would be extremely tough to figure out and even harder to put into practice. Right now this just seems like a pipe dream of Jerry West, who has now been out of the game a couple of years.

There is good reason that people listen to Jerry West, and if you have ever seen the NBA logo, then you know what West looks like. He was the ultimate player during his days with the Lakers, and the NBA ended up fashioning their logo after him when they created the new logo. Now he feels that with all of the teams around the NBA, that the player talent level has been diluted, creating some teams with players that shouldn't even be in the game right now. The way he worded it was that some of the players on teams now would not have even found a team back then, and while there could be something to that argument, the decision of how to contract the NBA might be tougher than he thinks.

If contraction was considered in the NBA, it would definitely create more teams with multiple superstars on their rosters. NBA contraction would increase the competition level as well, with some games turning into all-star battles between the top teams. The first step just doesn't seem possible, because how would you determine which teams get contracted. Based on market share? Based on performance? Based on attendance? New York would lose their team based on performance, Cleveland would lose their team based on market size, and Philadelphia would lose their team based on attendance. Think any of those cities want to be contracted?

While some of the ideas that Jerry West is trying to sell to the NBA might be good ones, the idea to contract the NBA is not a good one at all Some of the smaller market teams are really starting to turn around, most recently with the rise of Cleveland and the rise of Oklahoma City on the horizon. The Chicago Bulls draw more fans than any other team in the NBA right now, but wouldn't be considered one of the best teams. 30 teams are right about where the league needs to be, unless Commissioner David Stern is going to make the tough decision to turn against several cities and pull their teams. Then again, David Stern did that to Seattle, so why wouldn't we expect him to believe in contraction as well?

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Jerry West Interview

NBA Attendance #'s